commencer

English

Etymology

From commence +‎ -er.

Noun

commencer (plural commencers)

1. One who commences.

French

Alternative forms

• commancer (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French commencer, from Old French comencier, from Vulgar Latin *cominitiāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/

• Audio:

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Verb

commencer

1. to begin, commence

   Ça commence à m’énerver.

   It's starting to get on my nerves.

   Il commençait à pleuvoir quand nous partîmes.

   It was beginning to rain when we left.

   • 1956, Laurent Adler, À fleur de peau, Paris: Éditions de Paris:

     Georges poussa la porte, ouverte comme d’habitude. Il traversa à pas comptés le hall au carrelage glissant, trop bien astiqué, et commença de monter l'escalier.

     Georges pushed the door, which was open as usual. He gingerly crossed the hall with the slippery tiles, which had been polished too well, and began climbing up the stairs.

Usage notes

• commencer à is most commonly used, and commencer de is literary.

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of commencer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	commencer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	commençant /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		commencé /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/	commences /kɔ.mɑ̃s/	commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/	commençons /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃/	commencez /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/	commencent /kɔ.mɑ̃s/
	imperfect	commençais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/	commençais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/	commençait /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/	commencions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	commenciez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sje/	commençaient /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	commençai /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/	commenças /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/	commença /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/	commençâmes /kɔ.mɑ̃.sam/	commençâtes /kɔ.mɑ̃.sat/	commencèrent /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	commencerai /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁe/	commenceras /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁa/	commencera /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁa/	commencerons /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/	commencerez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁe/	commenceront /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	commencerais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/	commencerais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/	commencerait /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/	commencerions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	commenceriez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁje/	commenceraient /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/	commences /kɔ.mɑ̃s/	commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/	commencions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	commenciez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sje/	commencent /kɔ.mɑ̃s/
	imperfect2	commençasse /kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/	commençasses /kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/	commençât /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/	commençassions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	commençassiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa.sje/	commençassent /kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/	—	commençons /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃/	commencez /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• ça commence à bien faire
• c'est quand le jeu devient dur que les durs commencent à jouer
• charité bien ordonnée commence par soi-même
• commencement
• pour commencer
• tout est bien qui finit bien

Related terms

• initier

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: komanse
• → Esperanto: komenci

Further reading

• “commencer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French comencier.

Verb

commencer

1. (ambitransitive) to start; to begin

Conjugation

• As parler except c becomes ç before a and o. May remain c in older manuscripts.
• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of commencer

infinitive	simple	commencer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	commençant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		commencé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	commence	commences	commence	commençons	commencez	commencent
	imperfect	commençois, commençoys	commençois, commençoys	commençoit, commençoyt	commencions, commençons	commenciez, commencyez	commençoient, commençoyent
	past historic	commença	commenças	commença	commençasmes	commençastes	commencerent
	future	commencerai, commenceray	commenceras	commencera	commencerons	commencerez	commenceront
	conditional	commencerois, commenceroys	commencerois, commenceroys	commenceroit, commenceroyt	commencerions, commenceryons	commenceriez, commenceryez	commenceroient, commenceroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	commence	commences	commence	commençons	commencez	commencent
	imperfect	commençasse	commençasses	commençast	commençassions	commençassiez	commençassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	commence	—	commençons	commencez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: commencer (see there for further descendants)